Florida Bill memorializes Black Teenagers Boot Camp Suffocation Death
Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 11:56PM 
- Will More Training Prevent Redneck Officers from Killing Black Youths?
Improving training and operating standards for juvenile boot camps with an act named for Martin Lee Anderson would be a fitting memorial to the teenager who died after his videotaped beating at a Bay County boot camp, members of the legislative black caucus said Friday. The lawmakers also announced plans for two events focusing public attention on the events of Jan. 5, when guards kneed and punched the boy. Florida A&M and Florida State University students have organized a forum on the case Wednesday, and a mass rally is set for April 21 in the Capitol courtyard. State Rep. Curtis Richardson, D-Tallahassee, said the House "took a bold step" by naming the reform legislation "The Martin Lee Anderson Act of 2006." The bill requires staff training and uniform standards for restraint and use of force. Sens. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, and Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, said they will push the bill (HB 5019) hard in the Senate when lawmakers return from the Passover-Easter break on April 17. [more]
- Chief says his hands were tied on camp's use of force. Florida's juvenile justice chief says there was little he could have done to intervene in the aggressive use of force on kids at a juvenile boot camp, prompting a lawmaker to question his honesty. [more]
- Pictured above: Boot-camp case stirs students - FAMU, FSU students call for justice at forum [more]
Reader Comments (2)
First, I would like you to accept my condolences. For my own experiences, the grief is overwhelming and it will increase with the time. The death of a son is an insurmountable loss. My name is Beatriz Luis-Garcia and 25 months ago my son Leonardo Barquin was assassinated by a policeman in Miami. His name is officer Jorge Espinosa and at the time of the incident, he had a record of police brutality. More than two years later, the case is still in the Attorney Office. This killer shouted my son three times in the back, then handcuff and beat him. Even when my son was a minor child, they didn’t call me; consequently he died ALONE 6 hours later in the hospital. After this horrible murder, many more persons had been killed by the police. Let me tell you that the police are well-connected with the mafia; they have power and the right to use gums. We, as mothers, need to fight together to change the law that allow a police to comeback to the streets after an assassination, they must be automatically suspended. This pain can not be compare with anything, literally the HEART HURT. These criminals must go before the judge and pay for what they did it. I made a wed page to my son -------------------- there you can find statistics of people killed by the police and other case of police brutality here in Miami.
We need to be together, we need to be strong to encourage the law. Receive a big hug of a mother that as you is in pain. My prays are with you, and remember your son as well as mine and others mom’s sons, with the same unhappy end, are angels, from the sky they are taking care of us and will give us the strength to encourage the law.
I am with you for what you need,a hug.
Beatriz Luis-Garcia.
www.leonardobarquin.com
On the afternoon of January 16, 2004, my 17 year old son "Leonardo Barquin", left my house and has not returned. It's horrible for a mother to wake up each day and not have her son, we're not prepared to say goodbye to them first.
He and a friend together jumped the fence of a house, the police say it was for robbery, but when they caught them, they had nothing, they were without cars or bikes, they were walking, it was one o'clock in the afternoon, and they didn't break any windows to enter the house. I think as teenagers, they were up to some mischief, their first mischief, and the devil crossed their path.
If "Leonardo Barquin" was doing something incorrect, he should've been placed in front of a jury for them to decide his sentence. "Jorge Espinosa" couldn't have killed him, or beat him then, he's a murderer, not a police officer, the boy was unarmed.
This Metro Dade police officer named "Jorge Espinosa" with records of "police brutality", shot my son in the back three times and beat him to the point where his casket could not be opened at the funeral because he was so disfigured. After he shot him, he beat him in his face and all over his body. They put more than 60 transfusions of blood in the boy and he died alone in the hospital six hours later because no one called me. In spite of knowing his name, the police never called me and he died alone in the hospital. This murderer's name is "Jorge Espinosa", he is armed and walking the streets because the criminal department determined that the murder was justified. I ask myself if they would've taken different measures with this man's history of police brutality, if my son would still be here? Who's going to answer when this man does it again? But there will be justice, this man will not remain unpunished. This is the first step of many to come, for example my constant denouncement that this man named "Jorge Espinosa" is still on the streets with a weapon in his hand. This murderer took from me the most valuable thing in my life and for the rest of his, I will be here to call him a murderer and to fight for justice for this man, because if God wants to have justice in the sky, he can, but here, on the ground, who is in charge is ME.
ESTO ES UNA DENUNCIA
THIS IS A DENOUNCEMENT
It has now been 18 months since my son has gone and each day is worse. The pain has grown with time, today hurts more than yesterday, the loss of a son has no consolation, and even more when a murderer takes him.
How do you stop this brutality? Who gives this power to the police to take justice in their hands? Or is it that they have the license to kill?
There will be justice and all the weight of the law will fall on this murderer. The laws have to be stricter against police when they commit these atrocities that is why you must denounce the brutalities. Not only is it brutal to kill, but to stop you for a ticket and verbally assault you, we have rights and they cannot do that. It has been 14 months that a Hialeah police officer brutally beat Osiel Santana, he too was unarmed like my son. He died a few hours later in the hospital. Among the things the police say, now they say that he beat himself in spite of being handcuffed. It has been two years now that the Sweetwater police almost beat to death Peter Daniel. Fortunately, this boy is alive but he lost part of his liver and each day he wakes up he sees a scar that runs along his body of almost 100 stitches in length. A few months ago, the case of Cesar Augusto Rada, a young man, 31 years old, who was studying psychology, was a model, was shot in his chest by a police officer standing in front of his house, in front of his father. I ask myself, do the police have this right, always alleging that their lives are in danger? Through this email we can make denouncements, we need to unite. We have to remember that in groups there is power and together we can make a difference and construct a better future for our children. The mothers cannot remain quiet, they have to denounce when their son is mistreated or offended by a police officer, they cannot do that, they are not justice, they don't have the right to abuse and kill our children.
leonardobarquin@yahoo.com
ESTARAS POR SIEMPRE EN NUESTROS CORAZONES,TE AMAMOS
YOU WILL ALWAYS BE IN OUR HEARTS, WE LOVE YOU
"Leonardo Barquin", 17 years old, who was unarmed, was a loving boy and a good boy. We all miss him very much, mainly his seven and eight year old brothers. They are the ones who keep me alive. Every night they pray for him and they say that now, in our home, lives an ANGEL. It's very difficult to continue living after this pain, the heart can hurt, it's not an expression, one’s life leaves them.
THE LOVE LIVES FOREVER IN OUR MEMORIES AND THOUGHTS. BECAUSE IN OUR HEARTS, OUR LOVED ONES WILL BE WITH US EACH DAY.
WORDS DO NO EXIST, NOR TEARS, THAT CAN EXPLAIN THIS PAIN.
I ONLY HAVE A PIECE OF MY HEART LEFT.
I LOVE YOU FOREVER, MY BABY.
FROM, YOUR MOTHER.
LEONARDO BARQUIN
APRIL 16, 1986- JANUARY 16, 2004